Software testing is the process of verifying and validating that a computer-based system works as expected and meets user needs. One of the biggest challenges a test team faces in testing a complex system is interdependencies. Systems often rely on other systems and subsystems, thereby making testing and debugging more difficult. One system may throw errors that would typically indicate the system itself is not functioning as intended. However, the error may also arise from a faulty system on which the tested system depends. Additionally, there are often multiple teams building interdependent parts of the more complex end-to-end system. Simply testing the multiple independent parts, without recognizing dependencies, may not sufficiently test the end-to-end system.
Managing the entire testing process and testing related activities of these complex interdependent systems often proves critical to the success of the entire system. At the same time, efficiency in testing also has the desirable side effects of short testing times and smaller testing budgets. Much engineering time and computing resources go into generating testing tools. Thus, testing teams face the challenge of trying to leverage existing automation testing from subsystems during end-to-end testing of the entire system.